Project PHaEDRA - Henrietta Swan Leavitt #10

About the Project

At Harvard College Observatory (now the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), women computers studied glass plate photographs of the night sky. Here they catalogued stars, identifying variables, interpreting stellar spectra, counting galaxies, and measuring the vast distances in space. Several of them made game-changing discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics. In these books, follow the work of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who connected the luminosity and periodicity of certain variable stars such that we were able to understand just how big our universe is. Interested in historical women? Love astronomy? Help us transcribe the work of the Harvard Observatory's women computers and see which stars shine the brightest.

Recently, research material originally produced during the mid-to-late 19th and early 20th centuries by researchers at the Harvard College Observatory was re-discovered in the HCO Plate Stacks holdings. These early notebooks and other materials are absolutely irreplaceable. The material represents the history of the Harvard College Observatory and comprises remarkable examples of primary source material showing the evolution of observation methods, along with early astronomy as a whole. The documents are also relevant to the history of women in science as the collection contains material produced by the Harvard Computers. Women like Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and Antonia Maury made their mark in astronomy (and history!) here by studying these glass plates and publishing their findings in their own name. To learn more about the impact of the women computers, listen to an interview with Dava Sobel about her recently released book "Glass Universe" describing their legacy.

See an interesting bit, note, or image in the margins? Tell us about it on Twitter or Instagram @ProjectPHaEDRA !

At Harvard College Observatory (now the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), women computers studied glass plate photographs of the night sky. Here they catalogued stars, identifying variables, interpreting stellar spectra, counting galaxies, and measuring the vast distances in space. Several of them made game-changing discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics. In these books, follow the work of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who connected the luminosity and periodicity of certain variable stars such that we were able to understand just how big our universe is. Interested in historical women? Love astronomy? Help us transcribe the work of the Harvard Observatory's women computers and see which stars shine the brightest.